Empty Bowls event scheduled at Teeland today

April 15, 2005

CASEY RESSLER/Valley Life editor

Students at Teeland Middle School are serving empty bowls to help the hungry.

From noon to 6 p.m. today at TMS, students are hosting the Empty Bowls fund-raiser for Valley food banks.

For $10 ($5 for students ages 12 and under), people can get a pottery bowl filled with Ivar's clam chowder, brought straight from Seattle, or a host of other soups, and then they get to keep the bowl.

Last year, the event was extremely successful in raising money for local food banks, and organizers are hoping for similar results this year.

"Last year was a great year, but we can still do better," Deb Buzdor, a teacher who organizes the event, said.

There will be hourly door prizes given away, and a silent auction with a number of donated items is being held throughout the day at the school.

Empty Bowls is a national effort to help eradicate hunger.

It began in 1990 when a high school art teacher in Michigan and his students made ceramic bowls for a fund-raising meal.

Guests were served a simple meal of bread and soup, and were invited to keep the bowl as a reminder of hunger in the world.

Since then, Empty Bowls events have been held around the world, including several in the Valley.